


Folklore

by Taciturn



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, Fluff, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 12:26:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16743982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taciturn/pseuds/Taciturn
Summary: Written for the-gift-of-ffxv gift exchange back in 2017 for theprinceofchocobos on tumblrMermaid!Reader/Ignis au fluff





	Folklore

Before you were born, there were stories of you.

Before you realized who you were, you were talked about in hushed voices and with longing glances at the sea. The daughters of Leviathan, they called you. They told fables of you and your sisters who dwelled in the waterways and haunted the oceans of Eos, or so they say.

They didn't know of how you and your sisters would only ever gently run your fingers through the tides and ripples of rivers as you flitted from one tributary to another. Legends were told of your grace and your chilled hearts. Horrible tales of dark, soulless eyes and brilliant scales that only led men to the depths of the ocean were told to children to keep them from swimming out too far. Even darker tales were told to young sailors to keep their eyes from wandering too far from their loved ones on land.

Those who lived upon land whispered amongst themselves through the generations about their kin who were dragged to their untimely demise by a wrathful daughter. Those old tales were warped by time and were always told by those who didn't understand. No one realized that you could hear them. Their stories echoed through the pipes of their aqueducts and into the ocean. The daughters of Leviathan lived much longer than those on land, and you kept in your memory the very origins of the stories passed around by campfires. The tiniest eddies and tributaries carried the words of land dwellers to your ears, and you laughed at how foolish the children of the land were.

~~

Thus was your life. A life filled with misheard stories and fractured myths where no one seemed to remember the kindness the daughters of Leviathan could show. Here, your story begins and ends with a folksong and a memory not your own.

Born of sea foam and soft memories of water, you came to being as a ripple and a thought on the surface of the ocean. Your sisters greeted you lovingly as you first opened your eyes, and the coolness of the ocean touched your skin to breathe life into your lungs. Swimming came naturally to you as your sisters introduced you to their favorite grottoes and hiding holes. They taught you all about the citizens of your watery home and what parts of the reefs to avoid. You joined them in wild chases through slipstreams to catch marlins and swordfish. Your memories began and ended in water, and you knew no beginning nor end.

Your sisters were the same as you. When you asked where they came from, they simply said they came to being as a whisper in the water and a soft memory that felt like beams of sunlight through the surface of the rippling ocean. One tells you she was created of sunlight and laughter from childhood summers at the beach. Another remembers distinctly being made from a flurry of bubbles mixed with the soothing sound of waves at night, while another swore that she was built from sunken messages in bottles whose inky messages have all but faded from time. Not one of them ever said anything about being born from malice or dark thoughts.

As such, when you first overheard the stories humans told about you and your sisters, you were rather astonished, to say the least. Your sisters had shown you nothing but kindness, yet the tales you overheard only spoke of horrors and abominations of the deep. They laughed jovially at your reaction, saying that you would learn in due time that the land dwellers were not all wrong.

"Are their stories always like that?" you asked, after overhearing a sailor talk about grotesque monsters of the deep that only brought death to those who stared into the dark waters for too long. "Do they always call us such horrible names?"

"They may over exaggerate a little, but you'll see soon enough why they say those things about us," one sister told you.

"What do you mean?"

"Be patient...You'll know exactly what I mean when the time comes."

"She doesn't even have to wait. Follow me, I'll show you."

Your sister flitted off towards shore, and your curiosity caused you to follow her. She gestured for you to hide behind a cluster of rocks to watch as a child splashed merrily at the shore while a worried, wizened grandmother only kept on beckoning them to stay close.

"Listen....You'll understand," your sister said, placing her finger on your lips to hush your questions before you had a chance to ask them.

"Child, don't swim out too far now, you hear?"

"But why, grandma? I'm a good swimmer!"

"Don't you know, child? If you swim out to where you can't see the bottom, the Daughters of Leviathan will grab you by your ankles and drag you to the darkest part of the ocean. You'll never see your grandma or your mama or your papa ever again..."

"Will they really?"

"They will. There have been many great swimmers who have lost their lives to the Daughters because they thought the same way you did. So be a good child and listen to grandma, okay? Don't swim out too far."

"Grandma, I don't wanna even go swimming anymore...I don't wanna get dragged down..."

"Then let's go home for today, child, yes? Grandma will make your favorite apple toast, how about that?"

"Okay!"

As you watched, the two figures slowly made their way off the sandy shore and back towards their home. You wondered how many of those confident swimming youths had actually lost their lives due to their own folly and not because of your sisters' chilled hands at their ankles. Briefly, you wondered if there was any truth in the story you had overheard. You thought of all the joy and laughter they had brought into your life, and you simply couldn't imagine them being cruel.

Of course, as all stories had a twist, so did the one you wrote for yourself.

~~

When the sunlight was warm and the billowing sea breezes pleasant enough, you often took to the surface with your sisters to sunbathe on a rocky shore. The heat from the sun-kissed rocks was a welcome departure from the cool depths of your watery home. Many times, these excursions to the surface led to long days of telling stories passed down from the Astrals while playing with each other's hair. As the water lapped at your tail fins and the bright sun caused your scales to glitter brightly like sunken treasure, your sisters spoke of the gods and their love for Leviathan.

As a sister of yours gently braided your hair with sea grapes and cowrie shells, your mind wandered back to the conversation you overheard between the grandmother and child the other day. It had been on your mind lately; the eerie story of being dragged into dark water kept creeping into your thoughts when you least expected them to. Despite your best efforts to reassure yourself that it simply wasn't true, a part of your curiosity still sought the answers from your sisters.

"Does it ever happen?" you finally asked when the last story being passed around ended.

"Does what ever happen?"

"What that old lady said the other day. About us dragging people to the bottom."

You felt the gentle hands at your hair stop for a moment before resuming what they were doing. As they did, the words from your sister behind you were slow and measured. "It does," she started. "There have been times when one of us has been angered to that point." Again, her hands at your hair paused with her words. "You'll see in due time...That it's not always peaceful."

"Indeed..." a sister lounging on a rock chimed in, "I do think it's almost that time of the year, too. She'll see soon enough."

"I feel like we've only just had this conversation," you jested, hoping to bring a little bit of lightness into the conversation.

"There are many things for you to learn, little one. The ocean is vast and so is the greed and the darkness in every living creature. I must reiterate what your sisters have said. You'll see soon enough what we mean. Now come here. I found a scallop here that would just look stunning in your locks."

The rest of the afternoon was spent in peace. and the conversations quickly returned to what you were used to. However, you couldn't help but feel slightly unsettled at what your sisters had alluded to and what they meant with their cryptic words.

Sure enough, you would see what darkness humans held in their hearts. In that same interaction, you felt the anger that seethed under the chilled skin of all your sisters, and yourself.

~~

Grand sea vessels were a sight to behold. You could see their looming shadows from afar; and when they passed overhead, you could hear the most terrifying creak and groan coming the great structure above you. It was from those great sea vessels that you learned of why the texts of those on land speak of nothing but fear when it comes to the Daughters of Leviathan.

Peeping above the water with one of your sisters to see sailors for the first time, you were greeted with excited shouts and waves. Cheerfully, you waved in return, thrilled by their enthusiasm. That joy didn't last long when you felt your sister tug at your hand the moment she noticed one of the sailor's disappear behind the railing. "We need to go," she whispered, ducking back under the surface.

You wondered why that was, but your questioning thoughts were answered with the sinking feeling of fear when you saw a sharp harpoon sail by and nearly clip your shoulder. The shouts from above water soon turned from being good-natured to more dangerous sounds. Harsher syllables and demands were called out from above, and you were grateful for your sister who pulled you away to safety.

It was from this short interaction that you learned that humans saw you and your sisters as no more than a novelty to be chased and gawked at. You watched as there were "brave" sailors who jumped into the waters after you, chasing after your tail fins and swimming at the two of you with determination. That was when you felt no remorse for those who ran out of air and expired at the bottom. A whirlpool of negative emotions wrapped around you while you watched the sailor struggle and beg for mercy. Yet, the fear and fury coursing through your body prevented you from feeling grief.

"Do you see the truth now, little one?"

The origins of truth from the human’s stories ran hard and true through your bones. You nodded dumbly in reply, feeling the weight of a fate you never asked for dragging you right down to the bottom of the ocean with those unfortunate sailors who tested the wrath of your sisters.

~~

 

Even if you had discovered the truth, you didn’t want to accept it. Even if you knew rage coursed through your bones, you refused to give into the primal anger. You were born from nothing but kindness and you wanted others to feel the soft sea breezes and gentle waves as you have. Though it was your fate to be feared, you took the reigns of your story and rewrote it until you were satisfied.

You knew why humans feared the Daughters of Leviathan. However, you didn't want to forever be known as heartless creatures of the dark. Your sisters had shown you so much love and kindness, it was unfair to you and them that humans misunderstood you so. Finding out the truth burned a desire to prove them wrong. You wanted to open their eyes to the gentleness and benevolence that all of you were born from. Thus, you made it your goal to show them that there was kindness in your hearts and compassion in your souls.

This ambition of yours was set in motion when you realized how much you loved watching the storm clouds above roll in and freckle the surface of the ocean with rain. Your sisters called you strange when you told them how you found peace in the rumble of thunder and the feeling of the rain on your skin. The gray clouds and the dance of lightning across the sky always put you at ease while the winds whipped themselves against the water. In that peace, you would often spy a ship bobbing up and down in the distance. You wondered briefly if the people there were safe. Though you knew of what they thought of you and your kin, you couldn't help but worry about their safety.

This, was how you used your kindness to change the stories passed around the campfires.

~~

From their capsized ships, sailors floated aimlessly for days, wishing for death. In their delusions, they prayed that the Astrals would kill them. In their last moments of sanity, you dunked their faces in water to refresh their mentality before gently leading them to shore. Through their haze of hunger and despair, they often saw nothing more than a glimmer of your tail or the very top of your head when you swam away once you were sure they were safe.

Slowly but surely, the stories they told became less about fears of the deep, but more about the merciful daughters who would save those in need. Those the frightening tales were still spoken of, they became less frequent as time went on. Your sisters listened to these new narratives as they filtered through the waterways with rapt attention. They knew you were mostly responsible for this shift, and they were more than proud that their little one could bring about such a change. Your sisters followed suit and soon, the good tales started pouring in like the storms you were so fond of.

They now told of how the Daughters of Leviathan saved those who were stranded and desperate. Should the tides, the moon and the stars align for those fortunate enough, the Daughters of Leviathan would grace humans with help. Sometimes, it was as simple as bringing a shipwrecked sailor home to the ground he missed dearly. Other times, it would be to humor a lost child, letting her ride on the backs of dolphins and see the most colorful coral creations so that her tears could be quelled before settling her tired, sleeping form back at the shores for her parents to retrieve. Most often though, the kindness that was shared amongst your kin to those who walked the land were the eerie songs that were sang at sunset.

The days you shared with your sisters on sun warmed rocks became days where you shared your knowledge to those who passed by long enough to listen. Whether it be a wayward ship or a distant traveler wandering a nearby shore, you raised your voices and gifted to them the tales that were written in your very bones. Those days became the times where long stories of the old gods were woven into you and your sisters hair. As the warm sunlight faded past the horizon, you greeted evening with soft songs made of memories not your own. This was how the Daughters of Leviathan rewrote their legacy in text. Thus, their tales morphed from those of horror as told by sailors to ones of wonderment and generosity by those who passed at night and listened closely enough to the kindness of the seas.

~~~~

As many stories went, goodness was returned in the most unexpected of ways.

Another storm, another hapless victim taken by the unrelenting grasp of nature’s violence. Another day, yet another person to save. You chanced upon him as a flurry of bubbles from when he sank past the surface of the rocking waves. Your sisters gathered around and grasped onto the nearest person they could find. Though there were others who needed saving, you only had your own two hands and limited time to save as many people as you could. Luckily, the ship was close enough to shore that your swim would be short. You hesitated to look behind you as you frantically swam for the surface, first, making sure that the person you had in your hands promptly got air.

He was young, probably barely just an adult from what you could tell. Though land was close, just dragging him over to shore was a harder task than you had expected because of how dense he felt. Thunder clapped loudly, closer than you expected; and you hurried to reach shore. Luckily, there was a small sheltered alcove in which he would be safe from the weather. Something about him kept you from taking off as you normally did. There was an aura of mystery that kept you near, waiting for him to wake.

A few hours after the storm had passed, the stranger woke up on the shore with a groan. You watched from behind a cluster of rocks and breathed a sigh of relief when you saw that he was well. From what you could tell, there were a few bruises and perhaps a cut here and there but nothing life threatening. You watched as he fumbled around for something only to give up after a while with a sigh. He stared out from his spot in the alcove, mumbling to himself for a bit, assessing his situation, location and well being. Everything about him was so composed despite almost losing his life. You were further intrigued by who this stranger was.

Perhaps you weren't as good at hiding as you thought you were, or maybe it was the sun glittering off your scales that tipped him off. Either way, you were startled when he called out to you when he noticed your presence. Shyly, you couldn't help but approach him to get a closer look. Heart hammering in your chest, you hoped that he wouldn't be frightened, as most people were when you came close.

You were met with brilliant green eyes framed by tawny hair and a soothing voice which set you much more at ease than you had any right to be. He approached you; and as much as your instincts told you to run, you couldn't help but be entranced by the innate grace and elegance that came with his movements.

"Are you the one who saved me?"

His words were rich, filled with sunshine and carried deep undertones of earth. You watched as he sat close to the water, a safe distance from you. Timidly you came forward and were greeted for the first time with a warm smile. He offered his hand to you and thanked you over and over again for your kindness.

"My name is Ignis," he introduced himself after he felt that his gratitude for you was sufficiently soaked into your skin.

"They named you after fire," you said. "Fitting, for someone so warm."

He laughed softly at your words, and you wished sorely that you had a spell to keep that sound near to you always. It was beautiful, low, soft and reminiscent of the summer sunlight dancing across the ocean. "Yes, and you are?"

You passed the gift of your name to him; and he cradled it in his heart dearly, repeating it over and over again, getting the syllables right. Each time he said your name, it made your heart skip; and you felt warmer, as if a fire was lit in you from the simple act of him calling your name. Eventually, he was satisfied with his pronunciation and offered another smile towards you.

"You're not... afraid of me?" you asked finally when you could think over the thrum of your heartbeat in your ears.

"Why would I be afraid of you?" Ignis asked. "I should be thankful that someone so beautiful had the strength to save me."

Beautiful.

No one had ever called you that before, and a shiver of delight ran down your spine when he called you that. You had always been looked at with fear or reverence, never seen as something beautiful. In that regard, Ignis became special to you; and you latched onto his words with a fervor. "What's it like?" you asked, wanting to hear his voice more. "What's it like to live on land? How do you eat? How do you hunt?" You wanted to know everything, just for the sake of hearing how words worked on land and how lovely his voice sounded against the rock of the waves lapping at your tail.

"Well, let's see..."

The words turned into sentences which lead to stories that filled you with wonder and awe. Never had you ever wanted to see what he described. Not once had land seemed tempting, until he told you of the marvels and creatures that walked the world he lived in.

Tell me more. Tell me more, never stop talking.

So wrapped up in his stories, you didn't even notice how much time had passed. It wasn't until a shout from shore startled the two of you from your conversation that you realized the most of the day had gone by, and search parties had been sent to find your new friend. Frantically, you scurried back to the safety of the ocean to hide from the gazes of strangers while Ignis waved them down to let them know he was alright.

"I'll be back tomorrow, same place," he said while he waited for his comrades to arrive. "I have so much more to tell you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

As you made your way back to your grotto, his voice echoed in your head. The images he conjured haunted your dreams that night, and you couldn't wait for the sun to rise again so you could hear the sweet, low tones of his voice lull and amaze you with more tales from a land not your own.

~~

The promise was to wait for the next day at the same place where you first met. Your instincts and your sisters warned you that it could be a trap. However, your yearning to see him again was stronger than those basic feelings; so you found yourself waiting by the alcove for a man named after fire and made of stories you had never heard of before.

You counted the hours as the tide rolled in and retreated. Midday had come and gone, and you were beginning to wonder if you had been tricked. Perhaps your sisters were right and you had been placated by his soothing voice and his promises that you had foolishly followed a dream that wouldn't come true. You wanted to hold onto the idea that he'd come back, that he truly thought you were beautiful. You wanted to think that he was as reliable as the tide which slowly drew you back and away from the shore.

The sunlight had turned from gold to orange when you finally heard the sound of footsteps in the distance. Ignis had returned, breathless, panting and apologetic. Sweat rolled down the side of his face as he frantically searched for you. He breathed a deep sigh of relief when he saw you still waiting for him.

He called out to you smiling with a wide wave, and you felt your heart skip a beat at how beautiful he was against the setting sun.

Ignis' introduction was filled with apologies and frantic babbles about why he had taken so long to get back to you. Any negative feelings you had were all forgiven once you heard his voice again.

"It's okay. I forgive you."

"I must thank you for your kindness again," he said, sitting himself down on a nearby rock. "What would you like to hear about today?"

"Tell me more about the roads!"

"Very well. You see, since humans are spread so far apart..."

The images of long, winding pathways and intricate directions kept you entertained until the moon was out, and a fire was built so that he could continue telling you about his life. In return, he only ever asked that you tell him about yourself once.

"Where did you come from?"

"A good memory and a promise of water."

"Beautiful...Just like you."

When it was time to part again, he pulled you close to look deep in your eyes and slide a flower he had kept in his pocked to tuck into your hair. "A small gift...until next time."

"You'll be back?"

"I promise."

~~

The story of a child named after fire and a daughter created from water was written with promises of stories to share.

Daily, you waited for him; and unless the weather was foul, Ignis would always come, excited to share with you his stories on the land before asking for only one small tidbit about you. This ritual between you continued for many moons, and his regular presence felt almost like a necessity sometimes. It was a lovely, warm feeling, learning about him and those who walked the land. You learned of a prince, a shield and a spry, young gunsman whom Ignis was comrades with. You learned of the kingdoms and the journey he was destined to take.

He told you about it early when you met; but the designated time for him to take his leave was so far off, you didn't think too much about it until he kept talking about his journey coming up. The more he spoke of leaving, the less you wanted to see him. The more you realized he was to leave for a very long time, the more you wanted to freeze time in its place so that you'd never have to think about the pain of him leaving your side. Yet, as always, time was relentless and the dreaded day came too soon for you.

He greeted you with an ultimatum on the last day you saw him. "I leave tomorrow. You don't have to come back here for a while." If it hadn't been for the sound of waves behind you, you would have been able to hear his voice waver just a hair.

"For how long?" Surely, he would be back like he always had been. Surely, he'd come running across the shore as he had done so many times to see you prior to the sun setting. The weight of his words felt too heavy for you to bear. You needed some sort of reassurance that he'd be back, as he had always promised you.

"I'm not quite sure, it's a long way to Altissia. But, when I do return, will you still be here?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

You let the waves break the silence between you two as he searched for other things to say to you. Having gotten into a habit of seeing him, you were frantically thinking of other things to do in his absence. Though you and your sisters lived long lives, you wondered if you could bear being away from him for more than a few days.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of counting the waves that lapped at his shoes, he spoke again.

"Will you tell me of what you've seen in the ocean while I was gone?"

"Only if you tell me what you saw on your journey when you return."

"Of course, that much will be a given. I'll be sure to write as much as I can down for you."

To know he would have to document his travels cemented in your mind how long he would be away. Though he hadn't left yet, you were already counting the days that he had been gone. He hadn't even started and you were already dreading the wait. You were almost ashamed of how much you had depended on his company at this point.

"So how long will I have to wait for your stories?"

"You'll know when the flowers bloom for the sea."

You didn't want to think about the meaning behind his cryptic message. It sounded like a vow that he'd return and that was good enough for you.

"Then it's a promise, Ignis. I'll wait. No matter how long."

"I'll be back. I promise."

And so, the stories you shared and the words exchanged became the binding contract between the two of you.

~~

You knew the days would be long, and so would his journey, but you were set on being patient. Or so you thought. The words that had been exchanged seemed so long ago, you had nearly forgotten the tone of his voice when he had told you he promised to see you again. The once tranquil days that you had spent drifting along the waves and feeling the pull of the tide turned into gray, long hours where you would idly sit by the shore, waiting for his silhouette to appear.

Moons waxed and waned, storms passed and the ceaseless rocking of the waves were your only true measurement that time was passing for you at all. Your sisters distracted you well enough for a time, but the sweet, low tone of Ignis' voice brought a yearning out in you almost akin to a sickness. You had lost count of so many things as you waited through the days which came to a standstill. You replayed the stories he told you, memorizing the moments you shared until it consumed you; and you became frozen in the time that you shared.

You thought of the days when the sky was clear and the sun shone brightly when he told you about chocobos and his friends. You swore that you could still hear his voice call out your name when the shimmering outline of the sun cast long rays into the clear ocean water. Grasping at the winds that whipped around you when the storms raged, you almost felt the weight of his hand the first time you saved him.

The memories you kept in your heart from a child named after fire became the reason why a daughter of the ocean sang sad songs about land when the moon was at its peak.

~~

With the sound of waves echoing in your dreams along with his voice, you woke one day to a promise that was fulfilled in its entirety.

The waves were a flurry of colors as they churned the petals that bedecked the surface underneath towards you. Is this what he meant when he said he'd be back when the flowers bloom for the sea? You wondered as delicate blossoms were scattered on the surface only to disperse and break once they were taken underneath the surface. You madly made your way to the surface and towards the spot you had long abandoned when the memories became too painful to relive.

There, as promised, Ignis was at the shore, throwing fistfuls of flowers into the sea to call for you, to complete the pact he had made to you so, so long ago.

Time was not kind to him. Though the sea kept you as you were, he changed with his journey and the beautiful green eyes you had gotten used to staring into as night drew near seemed to be now made of clouded glass. Scars marred his face but he wore them with the same pride and elegance you remembered him for.

The petals he threw into the ocean clung to your skin as you got closer to shore, decking you in swatches of colors you rarely saw at sea.

"You're back," you whispered when you were finally close enough for him to hear you.

"I am." Ignis crouched towards where you settled and gently reached out to touch your face. There, you saw the extent of his age and you were taken aback by his beauty once again. The warm tingle of his fingertips across your cheeks brought a shudder down your spine. "You're still as beautiful as I remember," he concluded with a soft smile after a moment of exploring the planes of your face.

"I've missed you, Ignis."

"As have I," he said after a brief pause to twirl his fingers into your hair and feel for the flowers he had thrown into the ocean in your name. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"It has."

"What kind of story would you like to hear about today then?"

"Tell me about the roads again, which ones did you travel on?" you asked as you settled down on a nearby rock to get comfortable. It had been so long since you had seen him, surely his story would be long.

"Very well. The first leg of our journey..."

The story of your life started with memories not your own, drawn from thoughts of gentle waves and a promise of water. What became of that life was the old tale where a Daughter of Leviathan and the child named after fire penned their own love story after what seemed like ten years of darkness apart.

And they lived happily ever after.

-fin-


End file.
